Listen Instead of Reading
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A New Breath-Based Stress-Reduction Protocol
A reminder that I’m leading a 4-week course starting May 7th called Breathing for Better Mental and Emotional Health.
Learn more about the course and enroll here.
The course is centered around a super simple yet extremely powerful protocol combining breathing, mindfulness, and remembered wellness.
4 THOUGHTS
1. Leading Mindfulness Researcher: Less Work, More Breathing
“[I]f you come away from this book with anything, I want it to be a clear sense of how important this is. We’re busy. We’re time-pressured. We are always under the gun. But twelve more minutes of work is simply not going to catch you up as much as sitting quietly, and on purpose, with your breath.”
– Amishi P. Jha, Ph.D., Peak Mind
I’ll repeat: “But twelve more minutes of work is simply not going to catch you up as much as sitting quietly, and on purpose, with your breath.” 👏👏👏
2. A Simple Way to Laugh More
“Laughing is the most therapeutic breathing exercise.”
I’ve been telling my wife I should make a self-deprecating breathing humor account on Instagram for like a year.
Well, I finally did it. Introducing: The Garlic Breath.
My wife thought of the name and made me a silly icon in like 30 seconds on Canva.
Go follow and share so we can make laughing a part of everyone’s day : )
3. Five Great Breathing Apps
Breathe: This is my current favorite because it lets you set breaths down to the 1/10th of a second. I’m weird and enjoy that kind of control. I use it to do 6-sec inhale and 8.6-sec exhale, which gets me to 4.11 breaths a minute. I’m kind of obsessed : ) (Apple) (Android)
Insight Timer: I use this one for background noise (I use the “Nature’s Melody” track based on what I learned about the power of water sounds in Blue Mind). I also use this app to insert bells periodically throughout my session so I know when to switch exercises without opening my eyes. (Apple) (Android)
The Breathing App: This one has my favorite sound on the planet. It’s so good. And it’s the easiest app to get started with. No emails, no nothing. Just download and start breathing. (Apple) (Android)
The Oxygen Advantage: Tons and tons of exercises and wisdom, all as a gift to the breathing community from Patrick 🙏 (Apple) (Android)
The Breath Source: This is a new one I haven’t used too often because I don’t like guided sessions that much. But if you do, it looks like one of the best ones out there. (Apple) (Android)
4. The Metaphorical Benefits of Belly Breathing for Emotional Stability
“Similarly, when we focus on our breathing down in the belly, we are tuning in to a region of the body that is far from the head and thus far below the agitations of our thinking mind. It is intrinsically calmer. So tuning in to the breath at the belly is a valuable way of reestablishing inner calmness and balance in the face of emotional upset or when you have a lot on your mind.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., Full Catastrophe Living
Although this analogy certainly isn’t true for everyone, I think it’s a neat way of framing the psychological benefits of belly breathing. We focus on the abdomen area because it’s “far from the head and thus far below the agitations of our thinking mind.”
1 Quote
“The next step is crucial: you give relaxed, careful attention to respiration and to the obvious, often neglected fact that each one of us is breathing. In other words, you are alive! Did you know that?””
1 Answer
Category: Breathing Reflex
Answer: This breathing reflex typically has a deep inhale, a wide open jaw, and a shorter, more rapid exhale.
…
(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)
…
Question: What is a yawn?
In good breath,
Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”
* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.
Sign Up For The Breathing 411
Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.